This invention relates to a method for manufacturing shaped components and, more particularly, to a method for manufacturing shaped components from web materials. Such shaped components may be used in the construction of absorbent articles, as well as for other articles.
Disposable absorbent articles such as diapers, training pants, incontinence garments, feminine hygiene garments and the like often include product features such as side panels that provide a variety of functional benefits. An overriding consideration in the manufacture of a disposable absorbent article is the cost of manufacturing the article, including the materials cost. The present invention provides methods for manufacturing shaped components with little or no waste of the shaped material. Thus, the product features constructed of the shaped components made by the process of the present invention may be provided at a relatively lower cost than many of the features that are currently manufactured using techniques in which material is wasted.
Another important element of the manufacturing cost is related to the losses in efficiency, scrap, and quality due to the difficulty of handling and processing many of the materials having desirable properties in the finished product. For example, many useful elastomeric materials have properties such as a low modulus of elasticity, a high coefficient of friction, a low breaking strength, and the like, which make their handling and processing difficult. The present invention provides methods for manufacturing shaped components in which the shaped materials remain under good control throughout the process. Thus, shaped elastomeric components made by the process of the present invention may be provided at a relatively lower cost than many of the components made using less robust processes. Accordingly, the method of the present invention may reduce the overall cost of the absorbent article.
The present invention provides a method for manufacturing shaped components from web materials. Such shaped components may be used in the construction of product features such as side panels, shaped ears, and the like, for absorbent articles, as well as for other articles.
In one preferred embodiment, the present invention provides a method including the following steps for manufacturing shaped components. A first web of material is provided in a machine direction. The first web is cut into at least one pair of shaped strips having alternating nested projecting portions defined by at least one shaping cut having a pattern extending in the machine direction and alternately extending in the cross machine direction to alternate distal points located between longitudinal side edges of the first web. At least a first and a second of the shaped strips are separated. A second web of material is provided in the machine direction. At least the first shaped strip is joined to the second web. The second web is repositioned in the cross machine direction a predetermined distance. At least the second shaped strip is joined to the second web. The resultant composite web is cut into separate shaped components by a separating cut having a pattern defining the edges of each shaped component.
The process of the present invention provides flexibility with respect to the relative positions of the shaped strips in the composite web by repositioning the second web in the cross machine direction. The shaped strips may thus move along paths parallel to the original centerline of the first web from the points where they are cut from the first web to the points where they are joined to the second web. Because cross machine direction movement of the shaped strips is not required, the shaped strips may be processed while lying flat on roll surfaces and any other conveying surfaces. Therefore, the shaped strips may be maintained under good process control.